21st terrorism in the late 1990’s but terrorism

21st terrorism in the late 1990’s but terrorism

21st century, an era of technological advancement, globalization,
information and technology, the Internet has transformed the whole world into a
global village. In the preset century the world is facing many
global issues which is a threat to the humanity and human development like
recently emerged global issues such as climate change, nuclear war, terrorism,
etc. All issues have gradual development, which can be seen by the human
consciousness, but terrorism is such an issue, which takes place behind our
back, without any knowledge of the incident to the society.

” The 20th century ended in 1991 & the 21st century
started on 9/11″ 1

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Terrorism is the most heinous activity in the world; the word
“terrorism” is derived from the French term “terrorisme”. Terrorism historically emerged as an
event during the French revolution in 1789. To gain sovereign control over the
French society which resulted in a many acts of violence and crime to create
fear among the citizen by way of coercive means and to over throw current
sovereign with a new sovereign. This was called as the regime of terror.2

The western world portrays the origin of terrorism in the late
1990’s but terrorism was used as a political tool since ancient times to
achieve political aims, it emerged as a global problem in the 20th
century.

DEFINITION: –

“Terrorism may just be a crime or retaliation to unjust
oppression. Dictionaries to give a different meaning.”- Hon. Mr. Justice Aziz
M. Ahmadi (Former Chief Justice of India.)

Terrorism may have many definitions, as there is no specific
definition of terrorism. From a very long time UN is trying to frame a
definition on terrorism but is unable to succeed.

One of the prime reason is
terrorism being used as a political tool at the international level by the
nation state.

For example, on the issue
of Masood Azhar , the UN designated terrorist, china uses its veto in
UNSC(security Council) against designating Masood Azhar as International
Terrorist.3

One problem in defining terrorism lies in the observation that ”
one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”4

Leonard Weinberg and Paul Davis have described terrorism as ” the
voice of the voiceless, hoping to be heard by the powerful.”

“The method whereby an organized group or party seeks to achieve
its allowed aims and objectives chiefly through systematic use of violence.”5

Hence, it is not possible
to provide a prescribed definition on terrorism.

What is the
difference between Violence, Crime & Terrorism ?

Unlike violence effectiveness of terrorism rests mainly on the
element of surprise and fear.

Terrorism differs from other crimes as terrorist always claim to
be acting for a cause other than their personal benefits.

How different terrorist groups act is informed by what they
are trying to achieve. Some adopt a reactionary perspective
aimed at stopping or resisting social, economic and political changes. Examples
include IS, al-Qaida, Taliban, Boko-Haram, etc.

Aims, Purposes
and Tactics: –

The fundamental aim of terrorism is to destroy the fundamentals of
responsible constitutional governance.

Its aim is to pose a threat to those whom they consider as

a) Oppressors,

b) Enemies,

c) Obstacles in the achievement of their goals.

The purpose of terrorism is to create an emotional state of
extreme fear amongst specific groups. Hence, terrorism is fundamentally a form
of Psychological warfare.

TACTICS——————————————

TYPES OF TERRORISM :-

1.STATE SPONSORED TERRORISM:-

This remains one of the
deadliest and most important aspects of terrorism, every nation which provides
a safe haven to the militants operating from the area of their sovereign
control. a state would do this in order to weaken the other state or create
political discord inside it. States may also sponsor terrorist groups because
they are in ideological agreement with the group’s objectives.The identity and
nature of state sponsored terrorism has changed considerably in recent years. State-sponsored terrorism is government
support of violent non-state actors engaged in terrorism.The identification of particular examples are usually
subject to political dispute and different definitions of terrorism.6

E.g.: Currently there are four countries
designated under these authorities: the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
(North Korea), Iran, Sudan, and Syria.7

3.State Terrorism:

State terrorism is defined as the
complete suppression of people by the
state

Eg Suppression of Nazis in Germany.

4. Fundamentalist terrorism

Fundamentalist or religion-based terrorism is based on right wing
extremist religious fundamental group which use cohesive means to achieve Religious motivation.

E.g.: ISIS, Taliban.

……………..

5.ideological terrorism:
ideological terrorism is based on a particular ideology such as Militancy
,Naxalism ,Maoism,etc.

6.suicide terrorism: In such type of terrorism the terrorist plan
a blast at a crowed place at a specific target to achieve its goal to create
fear among the people and the target audience by killing himself and others. E.g.:
LTTE, ISIS.

7.nuclear terrorism: in such type of terrorism their is a threat
that the nuclear weapons may fall in true hands of the terrorist the terrorist
shall use the nuclear weapons to achieve their goals and objectives.

8. Cyber terrorism: in this kind the terrorism the terrorist
organization use modern technology methods to gain control over the sensitive
data of the government and create pressure on government.

E.g. : north Korea control; over some sensitive information of US.

10. Secessionism / separatism: Separatists
seek nationalist aims, usually desiring to secure self-determination or
home-rule for a certain faction or geographic community. Separatist terrorists
(also called nationalist terrorists)
use acts of terror to force the creation of a new state, or to join with
another existing nation with which the separatist community is closely aligned.

E.g.

: NSCN-K ,Naga movement ,Bodo movement, LTTE, JKLF, etc.

Political terrorism –
is used by one political faction to intimidate another. Although government
leaders are the ones who are intended to receive the ultimate message, it is
the citizens who are targeted with violent attacks.

Causes of
terrorism:

1.
Israel – Palestine rivalry: this is one of the foremost causes of
terrorism in the world the Israel Palestine rivalry is seen as the most
delicate issue in terms of the clash of religious based terrorism this rivalry
has lead a conflict between the Arabs and the Israeli’s and the supporters of
Israelis of the holy land Jerusalem. It is the holy place of the three religion
in the world.

For Christians,
the Land of Israel is
considered holy because of its association with the birth,
ministry, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus,

2.
Colonialism: terrorism is also result of many years of brutal
separation and cultural de- humanization.

Terrorism
emerges where and when an open political participation of the people is not possible
because of oppression due to colonialism.

3.
Extension of guerilla strategy: this strategy implies sudden
attacks on the enemy without giving any chance to the enemy to secure himself
from aggression. Terrorism is used as such a extension of the age old practice
of guerilla war.

4. Fundamentalism: right wing and extremist religious group which
try to create a divide in the society by pro religious activities leads to
terrorism.

5.
Organized crime and drug trafficking: it has a very huge network with the
terror outfits, as it is one of the important economic sources of terrorist
organization, which is also supported by various business outfits.

E.g.: women and child trafficking,
slavery , drug corridor of middle east
to south east Asia.

6.Advances in technology: terrorism has become a global phenomena
as result terrorist organization are using modern technologies to achieve there
goals by way of easier communication means of transportation which has
dramatically enhanced the reach, activity and power of terrorist groups.

7. Secessionism.

8.Easy availability of weapons: it has also lead to increase in
the number of activities of terrorism.

9. Economic reasons: there is a huge economic disparity and
instability in the developing world due to over population, poverty,
unemployment, raise of fundamentalism, exploitation of labour, gap between rich
and poor, dependency and mass exploitation of developing economies by way of
Neo-Imperialism, etc.

10. Cold war between U.S.A and U.S.S.R, i.e, oil politics: It is
now open to the world that terrorism is one of the foremost creation because of
the cold war between the U.S.A and U.S.S.R , both the states supported various
organizations by all possible means to create political influence in the
targeted territories and to gain control over the oil in those areas this
resulted to a rise of many terrorist groups from al-Qaida, Taliban to the
recent ISIS tjis resulted in a huge instability and destruction of Iraq, Syria,
Afghanistan, and various similar nation fell prey to this politics.

11. Supporting by nation states through proxy wars: various
nations are using terrorism as a tool by way of a proxy war against another
nation.

E.g. Pakistan during kargill war and cross border firing by
Pakistan.

12. A creation U.S.A: one of the most important aim of radical
Islamic terrorist organizations is the eradication of the control of the
western world over the Arabic world. The western world and specially the U.S is
the biggest suppresser of developing countries and has and eye and control over
the most important wealth of the Arab nations that is oil the U.S time and
again uses various tactics to create pressure on the already suppressed Islamic
world to gain social, economic and political influence over the Arab world and
also on various nations rich in wealth and resources. This constant
exploitation by U.S.A. leads to the rise of fundamentalist terrorism. Various
scholars also speaks that creating instability in the developing world and the
middle east nations, results into the dominance of U.S in such areas which also
creates a road to exploit there resources. It drives the economy of U.S by sale
of arms and ammunitions by various big MNCs of U.S, which exports weapons as an
interim result of demand due to insatability.

1 Jihad vs. Mcworld –
Samuel P. Huntington.

2 The History of Terrorism: From Antiquity to al Qæda – Gerard
Chaliand and Arnaud Blin.